Caught an €8 boat from Salerno in southern Italy to Amalfi, and I can confirm the Amalfi Coast is every bit as beautiful as people say!

The town of Amalfi itself is crazy. Exorbitant prices, coach parties, congested roads....you get the idea. But a short hike east or west along the coast brings you to one of many small towns and villages perched precariously along the cliff-side, where the prices are a lot more agreeable!

We calculated 60+ miles of walking these past two weeks. Much of our walking was with all of our belongings in backpacks or during night strolls. Almost every night we came upon live music. Like this night we found this quartet playing classics in the #uffizigallery . The lighting of my video is off because it was at night. It was so beautiful! These guys play every there every Saturday starting at 10pm. #firenze#uffizi#italy#backpackingitaly

I’ve allotted myself one picture frame for in my van and I’ve been trying to think of the perfect photo to go in it. I think I may have decided on this random alley in Florence. 1.) it’s seriously vibes (right?) and 2.) it’s got such good memories and symbolizes a great time in my life. The pop of yellow will be nice too. ☺️

During the bus ride, Conner was booted from the internet for using up all of his data allotment. He said his earphones were already dead, too.
I offered one of mine and said we could share. The song on was Mr. Tambourine Man: “And there is no place I’m going to...”
Conner just kind of laughed and said “no. Never,” then dropped the earbud between the seats. .
.
The bus ride itself turned out to be a rickety, cranking, clomping hellacious ride. The driver slung the bus around roundabouts so fast the tires squealed, and jerked to at each stop along the way, forcefully. The bus became crowded.
Italian bus rides had been good to me. 🙃
.
.
I nudged Conner awake as we were rolling into Rome at dawn.
Suddenly I was full of energy and excitement. .
.
Shortly after they hurriedly ushered all the sleepy folks off the bus, Chris realized he’d left his expensive knee brace on board.
He definitely needed it, so that was a drag.
We tried calling and messaging, but with no luck. .
.
We had time to kill before checking into the Airbnb, so we rambled a bit and found a place to freshen up.
We ended up outside the Colosseum, which was rather surreal in the early, sleepy morning. .
.
Plenty of people were mulling around, with street vendors close on their heels. We saw one man pester a rich couple who had their own driver for an hour about buying a self stick. .
.
We did end up with 3 bracelets that had an elephant on them. The African man talked a lot about needing to provide for his child, but also sold us on it “because you’re so happy. This one’s free, because you’re so happy.” He was engaging and friendly. .
.
It was a bit of a difficult situation getting into our Airbnb. The man was an hour late, and I’d had to use a $10 cellular day just to communicate. He turned out to be a really cool guy, though. He gave us a thorough rundown of neighborhoods, transportation options, and things to do. .
.
After he left, I took a freezing shower, then we went out for groceries to make spaghetti. #romeitaly#romeatdawn#romanholiday#spaghettiinrome#airbnbrome#colosseum#backpackingitaly#backpackingadventures#italianwine#backpackingeurope#romanruins#theeternalcity#romeitaly 🇮🇹

At the end of the business district, we found some truly wonderful photo opportunities and I wished I had my DSLR camera...
.
.
The buildings were ornate and vibrant, with flower boxes on every window and depictions of people painted on the sides.
The cobblestone streets had a unique eye-catching, blossoming pattern that was really interesting.
The mountains beyond continuously drew our gaze.
They were magnificent. .
.
In front of a church, there was this this statue of a boy that was a fountain. The water sprang from a concrete watering can, and he had on a floppy cap turned sideways and barely on, a shirt that showed some of his stomach, and a slightly bemused look. It was as if he wanted to be elsewhere; the mountains or the river with a cane pole perhaps, and didn’t understand why it was he had to be stuck there continuing with chores.
I thought of Tom Sawyer and all the Tom-foolery...
.
.
A man in a funny, green, felt hat came up to us. He waved and smiled and wanted to talk. He looked sad and disappointed when he found out none of us could speak or understand Italian. He didn’t know English or Spanish, and so he just smiled and waved goodbye. .
.
.
.#ortisei#ortiseiitaly#italianalps#northernitaly#spendyourmoneyonpeopleandexperiences#brotherstrip#theroadislife#theroadislifetravel#backpackingitaly#backpackingeurope2018#italytravel#backpacking#travelphotography#travelblogger#instablog#bloggersofinstagram

Celebrating my 1 full year of living in the Netherlands! 🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱 This is my boyfriend, whom asked me to move in with him to this wonderful country of bicycles, windmills and tulips. We’re having a Bossche bol. What is it? Sometimes called chocoladebol in its city of origin, it’s a pastry from the Dutch city of 's-Hertogenbosch. It is effectively a large profiterole, about 12 cm in diameter, filled with whipped cream and coated entirely or almost entirely with chocolate fondant icing.

15 41130 September, 2018

Advertisements

At least one positive of this heat wave: sunrises are 🔥
Somewhere on the Tour Mont Blanc